In Dreams We Meet
by lightofeilia
Summary: Squall's lost in time compression. There's a blonde guy with a huge sword beside him, and then later on, they get back, but not to their own worlds. Crossover, FF7FF8. ON HOLD, MAJOR REVAMP.
1. Chapter 1

New story! Tee hee. It's about Squall and Cloud ... how they accidentally switched bodies before the big fight. The idea is horribly unoriginal, I'm sure, but it's slightly different. It takes place during the time compression, before Squall gets to Ultimecia's time, and right before Cloud leaves for the Crater, to battle Sephiroth.

**In Dreams We Meet : Chapter One**

Time compression. _Sure, Laguna did say time compression would happen, but where did all these bloody Sorceresses appear from? They don't even last longer than Bite Bugs_, thought Squall vehemently. The gunblade master groaned inwardly as they felt themselves drop into yet another different dimension ... Rinoa's presence beside him felt comforting, somewhat, and he knew the others would make it there. He knew what Rinoa felt, knew how hard it is to mourn the loss of a loved one. They would make it, he assured himself firmly. Against Ultimecia.

_But what about me ...?_

* * *

_Something's not right,_ thought Tifa. Cloud just lay there, unconscious, and yet a fully mastered Life materia and Cure materia could do nothing for him. _Just before the battle against Sephiroth ... Cloud, how could you do this? What's happened to you? We can't fight without you leading us ... Meteor falls in six more days ... _she could tell everyone was worried. If they battle Sephiroth and lose, Cloud would be the only one left alive. Or perhaps dead, seeing his situation now, but they did everything together. For each other, watching out for each other ... yet could they put him aside for the world? Or the world aside for their friend and leader?

_Cloud ..._

* * *

Squall's eyes fluttered open and he sat upright. _Ow ... _he groaned and rubbed his forehead. His vision finally clearing, he looked around him. _A black ... void? _The first thing he looked around for was Rinoa, his heart stopping for one moment when there was no sign of blue. _Trapped in time _... Instead, to his right, he only saw Zell sprawled on the floor. Or at least, he thought it was Zell. _But Zell doesn't wear armour_, he thought, frowning. He approached the man cautiously, unsure of whether to wake him or let him be. He was inches away when the blonde groaned and tried to sit up. Squall knelt down and looked on questioningly. Amazingly, he could see his features clearly through the dark.

"Where am I...?" said the blonde, muttering.

"No idea," said Squall promptly, standing up again.

"Who are you?"

Squall paused for a moment, then decided the man wasn't a real threat to him (although the big sword stapped to his back looked quite threatening) before answering.

"Squall. I'm a SeeD from Balamb Garden."

"Cloud Strife ... ex-SOLDIER ..." mumbled Cloud, but thinking in his head, _Ex-SOLDIER my ass. But I'm not about to be pouring out my life to this Squall. _

"Soldier? Dollet or Galbadia?" asked Squall, rather sharply. The man creeped him out a little. For Hyne's sake, his eyes were glowing.

"Dollet? Galbadia? What's that?"

"... Never mind."

"What's SeeD?"

"You've never heard of SeeD before?" said Squall, throwing a weird look towards Cloud. Cloud gestured for him to sit, which he complied.

"No, I haven't. And I've travelled around the world more than ten times," said Cloud, ignoring the weird look and unstrapped his Ultima Weapon from his back with a sigh.

"So have I, but everyone's heard of SeeD. We're elite mercenaries. We're sometimes hired by others and go on missions, but our main goal is to defeat the sorceress."

"Sorceress?"

Squall paused again. This was really weird. Where did this guy come from?

"Ok. You're not from around here, are you? Sorceresses have been around for centuries."

"By 'here', where exactly do you mean?" said Cloud, gesturing to the darkness all around them. Squall remained silent, as he had no answer to that question. Instead he decided to address the question of the sorceress.

"Sorceresses are descendants of Hyne," said Squall, then quickly added after seeing the 'what-on-earth-is-Hyne' look on Cloud's face, "Hyne is like ... our creator. He created people, but he gave a portion of his power to certain females. They were called sorceresses. Quite powerful."  
"Right ..."

Silence. Squall pondered over the disturbing fact that Cloud doesn't know about Sorceresses and SeeDs, while Cloud was worrying about his friends and Sephiroth. But it didn't even look as if there was a way to somehow get back.

"I think we're both from different times," said Squall thoughtfully. Cloud looked over at him but said nothing. Squall took it as a sign to continue.

"My friends and I... we're supposed to be defeating a sorceress from the future. She somehow achieved time compression ... that's Time magic, where past, present and future all meld together. We were supposed to be moving through time compression towards the future ... and somehow I ended up here. Maybe it affected your time too."

Silence again. Squall never talked so much in his life before, and he felt exhausted. Still, he was curious to know about Cloud's background.

"What about you? What do you mean, ex-soldier? Retired?" asked Squall.

"Kind of. I guess you've probably never heard of SOLDIER before too. In my time ... the fuel of the planet is called the Lifestream. It's this green, glowing ... thingy. It's basically souls. We are all made up of Lifestream, when we die, I guess we become Lifestream again. ShinRa, some big-ass company, harnessed the power of the Lifestream to make Mako energy. Basically, refined Lifestream. SOLDIERs were not normal soldiers ... we were showered with Mako energy. Enhanced speed, strength and stuff ... that's what I was."

"I see," said Squall. No doubt they were from different times. Mako ... Lifestream...

"Ever heard of Meteor?"

"Sure."

"Then I'm probably from the past, and you the future. So that means the world was saved then? Cool," said Cloud, relieved.

"Wait. Meteor destroys the world ...?" said Squall, confused.

"Well duh, I mean, it's one big-ass piece of rock moving towards Gaia and it was summoned by some megalomaniac to destroy the world... didn't you just say you heard of Meteor?"

"The Meteor I know of isn't a 'one big-ass piece of rock', it's 'ten big-ass pieces of rocks'. And it's a type of magic you can use on your foes," said Squall, raising his eyebrow. Different types of magic ...?

"You know what, this is too weird ... And when are we gonna get outta here?" said Cloud, getting up and brandishing his sword uselessly into the air.

* * *

Next chapter : Battle lessons! Lol. I'm sorry if this is kinda short, but I really have to go. Please review! Thank you! 


	2. Chapter 2

**In Dreams We Meet : Chapter Two**

After brandishing his sword menacingly in the air out of frustration, Cloud sighed and glanced over at Squall, who was looking bored and sleepy. Somehow, he reminded him alot of Vincent ... except Squall was less creepier.

"Shall we try to find a way out then?" said Cloud, breaking the silence.

"And how do we do that?" said Squall moodily, looking around them. Still as black as ever, like an empty void. Squall had been thinking about time compression, and he was still trying to figure out where they were. And he could only conclude that they were either at the beginning of time (if there were such a thing) or at the end of time, where there was nothing left. Hence the empty void.

"We could just walk. Bound to find a way somewhere, rather than just sit here and do nothing," said Cloud. Choosing not to reply, Squall got up, still brooding and looked at him.

"You lead the way."

"Fine."

_Blind man leading another blind man... _they both thought at the same time, yet they walked off anyway. It was gonna be a long walk, but they had to. The fate of the world, of their worlds lies in their hands ... and as the leader of a group, what would their comrades do without them?

* * *

"He's not responding," said Rinoa frantically. They had all arrived in Edea's Orphanage, with loads of SeeD corpses lying around. The future of SeeD looked bleak, and to make things worse, Squall was among the ones lying in the cold dirt, unconscious but still breathing. The orphanage gang crouched around him, trying to help, but no restorative magic nor items could wake him up. He just lay there, looking almost peaceful, as if there was no war going on at all.

"Vital signs stable," said Quistis, removing her hand from his wrist.

"Breathing normal," said Irvine, then shook his head.

"Everything seems fine," said Selphie, "But what's wrong with him?"

"What do we do now? Carry him into the castle?"

"We wait," said Rinoa firmly. Everyone turned to look at her.

"But..."

"Squall never abandoned us. We can't abandon him now."

They nodded, and sat down, watching the looming thunderstorm overhead Ultimecia's castle, hoping fervently that Squall would awake and lead them once more.

* * *

"He's not responding," said Tifa frantically. Tifa wanted to smack Cloud upside down; there he was sleeping peacefully, whereas everyone was worried about him.

"Maybe he's faking it? Induced sleep?"

"Nah ... it seems somewhat abnormal ... anyway, the question is what do we do now?"

"Can we fight Sephiroth without him?"

"No!" said Tifa, and everyone turned to look at her. "He said it himself. What are you all fighting for? He needs to settle this personal feud with Sephiroth. He has to come along."

"But Tifa, we don't have time to wait. Meteor falls in about six more days, and the battle with Sephiroth might not be so short a battle," said Nanaki.

"We wait," said Tifa firmly. "He'll come around, I know he will."

* * *

"So," began Cloud, in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence, "What's that weapon you have there? Looks pretty unusual."

"... It's a gunblade."

"What?" said Cloud, then stopped him.

"Let me see," he demanded, almost childishly. Squall sighed. Now he was behaving like Zell, during their SeeD exam in the Garden car on the way to Balamb.

"... No."

"We're both weapons masters, I'm not gonna manhandle that thing."

"I'll let you see mine," said Cloud, taking out his sword and waving it in front of Squall, much like a lollipop to a wailing child. Squall sighed, annoyed.

"Alright ..." he mumbled, then taking out Lionheart and handing it to Cloud. Cloud gleefully took it and examined every inch of it.

"The blade is cool," said Cloud happily, looking in wonder at the bluish-green glowing blade, and then looked at the handle. "So it's like a gun merged with a blade?"

"Yes."

Squall, on the other hand, had taken one look at the sword before deciding it was boring. It was just a sword, after all. What intrigued him more was the glowy orbs slotted into the sword.

"Does it have a name?" asked Cloud, fingering the blade.

"It's called Lionheart."

"Can I try it out? Defend me with my sword? I won't attack too hard," said Cloud, with boyish excitement in his eyes.

"Wha -" began Squall, looking from the sword to Cloud, who had backed away several steps and was in his battle stance.

"Ready? Let's go!" said Cloud, then dashed toward Squall, raising the gunblade, which was lighter than the Ultima Weapon, but still felt unusual. Squall, jolted by the short blonde's enhanced speed, managed to bring the Ultima Weapon up just in time to block Cloud's attack. Cloud jumped back and smiled, lowering the gunblade, fingering it fondly again. Squall lowered the sword too, and realized that it was heavier than his gunblade; a split second later and Cloud would have slashed him across his chest, earning him another scar.

"Why's it called a gunblade then? You might as well just use a normal sword," said Cloud, handing the gunblade back to its rightful master.

"..." Squall took the gunblade back, and handed Cloud his sword, and prepared his battle stance. Cloud readied himself, in a defence position. Squall ran lazily toward Cloud, not intending any real damage, and brought the gunblade down, pulling the trigger at the same time. A blast of fire came out, startling Cloud a bit, then Squall jumped back and lowered his weapon. Cloud gazed longingly at the gleaming Lionheart, but Squall cut him off first.

"No, I'm not letting you try it," said Squall firmly, even before Cloud began to speak. "Now can we go?" Cloud pouted and strapped his sword back, trudging along beside the moody Squall.

"So how did you like my sword?" said Cloud. He was proud of his Ultima Weapon, acquired from that monster Ultimate Weapon, which was one damned monster he never wanted to fight again.

"It's alright," replied Squall boredly. He didn't mention how heavy it was, or how big and bulky it was, nor did he ask how Cloud had gotten hold of it. Which Cloud was hoping fervently that he would ask.

"I fought a damned monster and got it," said Cloud, shuddering. "That damned Ultimate Weapon..."

Squall stopped stock still and stared at him.

"What?" said Cloud curiously, staring back at him.

"Ultimate Weapon?"

"You've heard of it?"

"I've heard of Ultima Weapon..."

"That's the name of this baby here," said Cloud, tapping his sword fondly and grinning at Squall.

"Ultima Weapon was a monster I fought. And Omega Weapon," said Squall, shrugging and resumed walking towards nowhere. Memories of those things were not something he wanted to relive or think about.

"But I fought ULTIMATE Weapon," said Cloud, following along beside him.

"I never said you didn't," replied Squall shrewdly.

"So like, your attacks are all just slash and burn, slash and burn?"

Squall gave him a weird look and said, "Yes, that's pretty much about it. And how do you swing that sword of your around? It's so big and bulky. Wouldn't it reduce your speed?"

"Nah, I've trained with it, so I'm alright. Yours is too light for me, feels kinda weird."

They walked on for some time, knowing that they had no idea where to go but refusing to give up all the same. Squall's thoughts fluttered back to the glowy orbs in the Ultima Weapon.

"What're those things in your sword?"

"These? They're called materia. Refining Mako, which is refined Lifestream, gives you materia. You use it to cast magic and summon and do other things."

"I see ... " mused Squall. Then he stopped, which caused Cloud to stop too. Without hesitating, Cloud took out his materia and showed it to him.

"This is the Restore materia, to cast Cure1, Cure2, Regen or Cure3 ... this is the summon Bahamut Zero, and the summon the Knights of the Round ... Double Cut, this enables you to hit twice or four times per attack, depending on the level of the materia ... Counter Attack materia... Final attack materia ..."

"I see ..." said Squall again. Cloud reslotted them all back, then remembered that Squall's weapon did not have materia in them. Then he remembered that he and Squall were not from the same time ... world ... whatever.

"What about you? You don't use materia."

"No, I don't. To use magic, we need to junction Guardian Forces. They're like your summons ... but we call them Guardian Forces. If I don't junction any GF, I can't use magic."

"Then where do you keep your magic?" demanded Cloud.

"Same way you keep your items ... we can only stock up to a 100 of each type of magic."

"So that means, you can use magic a hundred times over?" said Cloud sceptically. Squall nodded, somewhat exhausted by his explanation.

"Anything else interesting to tell me?" said Cloud eagerly. Squall, somewhat bemused, and still exhausted, complied anyway.

"We junction magic too. To raise our speed and strength, magic power, HP, spirit, and other stats, we can junction magic like Firaga or whatever to raise it," said Squall. Cloud blinked. He didn't really understand it, but he was not about to show it.

"Right, I see..."

Silence again. They continued walking on, until Squall heard this odd chime sounding from nowhere.

"Did you hear - " they both began, but was cut off by a cool female voice echoing everywhere and sounded nothing short of a receptionist at a shopping mall.

"We're sorry for the inconvenience caused. Please wait for a moment, and you will return to where you belong," said the voice pleasantly, and the chime sounded again. Squall and Cloud glanced at each other, wondering what kind of madness was happening, then promptly sat down to wait.

* * *

The switching of bodies will commence soon! Please review! I very much appreciate it! 


	3. Chapter 3

**In Dreams We Meet : Chapter 3**

They sat down, patiently waiting for the female "receptionist" to get back to them and return them to where they rightfully belonged. Although how that could ever happen was beyond them.Cloud, now quite comfortable with Squall, tried to start a conversation going again. Obviously he had noted Squall's horrible communication skills, but still it was a way to pass the time.

"So ... how old are you?"

"... 17."

"Oh. Wow. That's ... young ... I'm four years older than you. You don't act like a teenager you know."

Squall was sorely tempted to snort, however he just took it as a compliment and remained quiet. Cloud stared at Squall, and noticed something shiny hanging from his neck. _A necklace? _

"What's that?" asked Cloud, pointing to Squall's neck. Squall looked down at his chain, and the lion symbol dangling from it. _Rinoa ..._

"It's a lion. Griever."

"I see ... " Cloud was about to ask him to take it off so that he can have a good look at it, but Squall abruptly changed the topic. Damn that Squall.

"What were you doing before this?"

"Huh?"

"I mean ... before you ended up here."

"Oh. Well, my friends and I are supposed to go and fight Sephiroth ... He's an evil maniac bent on destroying the world ... He's the one who summoned Meteor. Meteor's gonna fall onto the Planet in about 6 days," replied Cloud.

"Meteor?" said Squall. _Oh right, the big ass piece of rock..._

"Yeah. Our magic seems to be different."

Silence again. Cloud wanted to ask Squall the same thing, but as he had already explained himself about going to defeat the sorceress, there was no point in doing so. Carrying on a conversation with him was like conversing with Sephiroth. Tiring, and it almost got you nowhere. Except that Sephiroth was fiercer. Cloud shook his head and pushed Sephiroth out of his head.

"Do you think your friends have gone on without you?" asked Cloud.

"... Maybe," said Squall after a long pause.

"Maybe? That's not a proper answer at all ..." said Cloud moodily. Clearly Squall wasn't up for chatting. "I think my friends may have gone to fight him already ..."

"...Why?"

"Meteor falls in 6 more days. Sephiroth ain't exactly a piece of cake. They can't waste time because of me."

"Do you blame them?" said Squall, turning to look at him.

"Maybe..." said Cloud, then instantly regretted saying that, as Squall hid a smirk. Then he added, "I guess it really can't be helped. But I want to fight Sephiroth as well ... I want my revenge," said Cloud, his Mako eyes boring into Squall, who looked back warily.

"Revenge...?"

"Yeah... He burned my hometown, Nibelheim ... he almost killed me ..." said Cloud softly. Then, in barely a whisper, he uttered, "He killed Aeris too ... and I couldn't stop him."

Squall decided that this Aeris was an important part of his life and decided not to pursue the subject further.

"But even if you defeat him .. Meteor would still fall. Your world would still be destroyed."

"Before Aeris died, she summoned Holy, the only magic that can counter Meteor. Sephiroth is somehow blocking Holy's power. We're gonna fight him ... and let Holy do its work."

Squall nodded, and pondered again, concluding that Cloud gains his strength from vengeance ... and that he fights for the ones he loves. _Yet what would he gain after doing so? Would he feel at ease after Sephiroth's death ...?_

"What would you do ... after you've gotten your revenge and defeated him, and the world is safe?"

To that, Cloud had no reply. He opened his mouth to try, but a chime sounded from somewhere again. "Squall Leonheart and Cloud Strife, you will be returning to your respective worlds shortly. Please be ready." Cloud and Squall stood up and faced each other. Cloud sweatdropped. Where on earth did that voice come from? Suddenly they heard a weird whooshing sound, and felt some wind blowing at their feet. Squall's first thought was either an Aero or a Tornado, but before he could even move he was hurled forward by a strong force behind him, clashing into Cloud who was also pushed towards him, and their foreheads collided, blurring their vision and soon they saw no more.

* * *

"He's waking up! Squall! Squall, can you hear us?" said Rinoa excitedly, fighting back tears. After 5 hours of waiting ... finally he had awoken. Blue eyes opened slowly, and his hands pushed himself to a sitting position.

"Where am I ...?" he said, clutching his forehead. "Where's Squall...?"

"Where's Squall? What are you talking about man? YOU'RE Squall," said a blonde guy with a tattoo on his face, who bent down towards 'Squall'. 'Squall' looked down at himself, recognising the black leather jacket, and Griever, and the many belts which Squall wore when they met, and also the Lionheart. He looked around him and saw unrecognisable faces, a girl who looked like Tifa except she had smaller boobs and a gold streak in her hair. She even looked like how Tifa does when she's concerned about him. There was a tall guy with a gun, a small girl in a yellow dress who was jumping about happily, thus reminding him of Yuffie, and another blonde girl with a whip by her side. _Oh fuck, _thought Cloud, in Squall's body. _I'm in the wrong world ... and the wrong body ... _and with that he fainted again.

* * *

"Cloud? Cloud? Can you hear me? Cloud!"

A groan escaped his lips as he sat up groggily, eyes still closed. His forehead was hurting terribly from the collision with Cloud ... _I think I'd better lie back down again. _He almost did so, but the unrecognised voices finally got to his head, and he realised something was wrong. _I'm not Cloud,_ he thought_, why are they calling me Cloud ...? _As he slowly opened his eyes, a girl who looked like Rinoa looked at him in concern. 'Cloud' jumped up, swaying on his feet as he still felt dizzy, raising his hands and feeling for his gunblade at the side ... only to find that it wasn't there. _What the ...? _Then he looked down at himself, taking in the black outfit he recognised as Cloud's. Gulping, he looked around him and noticed Cloud's Ultima Weapon by his side, and a bunch of people gathering around him. There was the Rinoa look-alike, except with bigger boobs, a smoking and cussing man, a young girl of about sixteen, a long haired red caped morbid-like man, a dark-skinned man with a gun-arm, and a ... a white thing and a red thing. _My head hurts_ ... thought Squall miserably. Realizing he was in Cloud's world AND Cloud's body, he groaned again and fell back to the grass.

* * *

That's the end of the chapter! From now on, when I say Squall, it'll be the Squall in Cloud's body, and when I say Cloud, it's the CLoud in Squall's body. Lol. Please review! 


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you for all your reviews!

**

* * *

In Dreams We Meet : Chapter 4**

_Ugh ... Should I get up? I hear someone calling me ... but it's not Rinoa. It's not Rinoa at all. Who is she ...? Who are they? How am I gonna know how to behave around them? Cloud didn't act like me. I don't act like Cloud. I hate thinking too much. Why is this happening to me? Will Rinoa even know the difference? What if she doesn't? What if Cloud makes a fool out of myself and Rinoa starts to like the new, smiling, Squall and when (or if) I do return, to my normal self, can she take it? Will she be dsappointed? I hate thinking too much. Does this girl like Cloud? Does Cloud like this girl? Hell, am I supposed to be getting close to this girl now? What now? _

_Sis ... _

_Sis... I'm all alone ... again. _

_Will I be alright ...? Am I gonna make it back ...?_

_Oh my Hyne I'm starting to sound like Rinoa. _

_Maybe that's not such a bad thing, admitting you need help. _

_But does admitting it make it any easier? _

_I think I'll just wake up. That way I'd stop thinking. _

* * *

"Cloud! How are you feeling?" said Tifa, crouching beside him. She made to touch his forehead but Squall instinctively batted her hand away and regretted it. Tifa let out a small gasp, but brushed the pain away, her concern for Cloud setting in. Barret, looked like he wanted to murder Cloud. He never behaved that way to Tifa before, and there wasn't going to be a second time.

"What the hell is up with you Spike? Tifa's all concerned about you and you go pushing her aside like that!" yelled Barret, waving his gun-arm madly about. Tifa looked back imploringly at Barret, which shut him up.

"Stop it, Barret, it's fine," said Tifa. Squall gazed back at Tifa, then looked away and muttered an apology.

"If you're feeling better, we'd best be going," said Nanaki, startling Squall out of his skin. _That red thing just talked_ ... Forgetting himself for a moment, he stared openly at Nanaki, who was swishing his fiery tail about indignantly.

"Something's wrong with Cloud, and Nanaki's right, we have to be moving on," said Vincent, surveying Squall closely, and Squall stared stonily back. Still quite unsure how to act around them, and also not knowing all of their names yet, he resolved to keep silent and pretend he's still ill. _So far there's Tifa, Barret and Nanaki ... who are the other five...? And this man is creepy._

"Yeah! Who are you and what have you done with Cloud?" joked Yuffie, guffawing. Everyone except Vincent, Nanaki and Cait Sith glared at her.

"That was just lame, brat," said Cid, taking out a cigarette and lighted it, all the while dodging Yuffie's punches.

"Cid! Cloud's not alright yet, don't smoke that around here!" said Tifa indignantly. Squall groaned inwardly. She was acting like mother to them all. Like Quistis. But much to Squall's surprise, Cid dropped the cigarette and squashed it, muttering some profanities making everyone else cringe. _Okay ... that's Cid ... but definitely not our headmaster... and the ninja girl is... brat ...? _

"Cloud, we'd better go. Meteor falls in 5 more days," said Tifa, helping him to his feet. Squall nodded but did not move, waiting for everyone to leave, because he did not where exactly he was supposed to be heading. But everyone just stood there, watching him intently. _Is Cloud the leader here ...?_ Squall sighed and ran his hair through his head._ Spikes_, thought Squall and groaned mentally. he gazed back at everyone and just said a final, "Let's go."

Everyone else's looks changed from silent consternation to open disbelief. Cloud ALWAYS says, "Let's mosey," which drives Cid and Barret and Yuffie up the wall. Squall felt increasingly stupid by the second. Then he decided to turn things around.

"What's wrong with you guys?" said Squall, trying his best to sound like Cloud, "C'mon, let's just leave!"

That seemed to do the trick. Everyone else began to walk off, including Tifa after a last look at Cloud, except Vincent who stayed behind to walk with him.

* * *

"Squall! Thank Hyne you're awake!" cried Rinoa, throwing her arms around her knight. Cloud let out a small "oof" and gently pried her off him while he tried to sit up. He looked around him ... and realized he didn't know anything about these people. And neither did he tell Squall anything about his friends. Assuming of course, that's where Squall currently was.

"Rinoa, let him breathe," said Quistis, smiling with relief. _This must be Squall's girlfriend_, thought Cloud. _But what if she isn't? What if she just loves Squall and he doesn't love her back? What do I do then?_

"Hey hey hey, we gotta get moving! Gotta kick Ultimecia's ass!" said Zell, jumping up and down and punching the air. _A martial artist ...? Like Tifa_, mused Cloud.

"Calm down Zell ... you too Sefie," said Irvine, grinning as he watched the petite little girl jump up and down as well.

"Rinny, let go of Squall! Let's go let's go!" squealed the ever-hyper Selphie. _Can she really fight? She seems so innocent and happy, _thought Cloud.

"Get up, Squall, let's go," said Quistis, turning to look at the looming castle in front of them. Seems like the had to cross a enormous chain as a bridge. Cloud got up and followed behind as everyone else walked in front of him.

"Hey," chirped Selphie, looking at the chain and turning to them with an evil glint in her eyes. "If we chop these chains off, do you think Ultimecia's castle will just drop down and die?"

"No, Sefie dearie, we just won't be able to get to Ultimecia's castle at all."

"Oh... and I thought it was a brilliant plan," said Selphie, but ran ahead of them anyway.

"Sefie! Don't go all by yourself!" yelled Irvine and ran after her, bumping into Zell and smirking at him. "Race ya there, Zell!" Irvine laughed and ran after them, reminiscing about how they used to play last time. Zell rubbed his side and yelled back, "Owwww! That hurt Irvine!" and proceeded to run after them. Cloud looked over to see the two girl's reaction, and saw that Rinoa was laughing and Quistis was sighing. Cloud looked at the trio ahead and smacked his forehead. He was stuck with a bunch of teenagers; crazy killing teenagers but nevertheless still teenagers who behaved like teenagers. _It's a wonder Squall behaves more adult-like than me, _thought Cloud. _I'll have to behave like Squall from now on. Let's see ... Squall doesn't smile very much ... wait, he doesn't smile at all, and he doesn't talk much ... and ..._ Cloud thought hard, but that was all Squall seemed like to him. _Hmm. That should be easy to pull off. Just behave like Vincent or Sephiroth then. _

_Wow. _

* * *

"Did you want something?" said Squall a little nervously, when the gunman who offered to walk with him to the ship had not said anything at all. Squall had smacked himself mentally when he saw the airship. He should have just walked up to it earlier, instead of having everyone stare at him weirdly. Vincent gave him a look and then said, "You're not Cloud ... are you ...?"

"What are you talking about? Of course I am!" said Squall indignantly, his throat hoarse. He hated this. Hated talking, hated acting.He could not decipher Vincent's expression behind that cloak of his, but determinedly climbed aboard the airship.

* * *

To be continued! -


	5. Chapter 5

I decided to follow the advice of a reviewer, and make each chapter either a Squall one or a Cloud one. IN full. I'll try to make it longer.

**In Dreams We Meet : Chapter 5**

They gathered outside Ultimecia's castle, staring up at the enormous double doors. The rest stood behind Cloud, waiting for "Squall's" orders, whether or not to sneak in or to barge in. They did not know if Ultimecia was expecting them, but they were fully prepared for whatever it is the sorceress conjured up for them. Cloud, meanwhile, was wondering where on earth Squall kept his magic supply, and how to use that "Junction" system Squall was telling him about. Which he can't quite remember at this point. All he knew that the GFs were like summons ... and he currently had Shiva, Bahamut and some GF named Diablos 'junctioned' to him. Suddenly realizing the quietness that surrounded him, he turned around to find them all looking at him. He cleared his throat.

"Check your ... " said Cloud, pausing. _Check your what? Junctions? Equipment? _thought Cloud as he grappled for the correct word.

"Yeah yeah, check your GFs, junctions, equipment ... come on, let's **go**," said Zell impatiently, bouncing up and down, punching the air again.

"Whatever," said Cloud, rolling his eyes, hoping that at least he sounded like Squall this time. He pushed open the doors, and they walked inside, trailing along after him.

The place was huge, and lavishly decorated. A magnificent chandelier hung from the ceiling, the lights were dim and yellow. There was a stairs leading upwards, where Cloud could see it branched into two sections, left and right. And there seemed to be some sort of monster standing guard there, however it did not attack. He scanned the room, and spotted another door to his left, hidden by the walls near the stairs. Suddenly, a voice boomed out of nowhere, startling them.

_**"Your powers have been sealed by my servants. In order to gain them back, you must defeat them."**_

Cloud turned to look at his party. They seemed quite confused, as they pondered the message that was given to them. Cloud was confused too, but on an entirely different matter. He felt nervous, what was he going to do in a battle? _I'd just make a complete fool out of myself... _

"What did she mean, our powers?" asked Selphie.

"I don't know, but I guess we have to fight her servants before we can fight her."

"Why don't we start with that?" said Irvine, pointing in the direction of the stairs. It looked like a cross between a human and a lion; and it looked like it wasn't going anywhere without a fight.

"We'll divide into two groups," announced Cloud. "Rinoa and Irvine come with me, Selphie, Zell and Quistis as the other party. You guys take that way," said Cloud, pointing at the door on his left, and nodded at them. "I'll deal with the one on the stairs. If we're lucky, we'll arrive at the same place ... to defeat Ultimecia. Let's go."

Nodding at their leader, Selphie, Zell and Quistis trudged off. Cloud made sure the other two were behind him, and he walked up boldly towards the monster.

"Let us pass," he demanded. "And return our powers to us."

The monster snorted at his attitude, but remembered to be careful and not underestimate them, as its master had warned it about the SeeD's strength.

"Face my wrath for seeking thy sealed power ..." it growled back, and Cloud signaled the other two to jump back down on the ground. Battling on the stairs was dangerous, and there was not much space to move. The Sphinxaur jumped down and landed gracefully on its feet, facing them. Rinoa prepared to summon Alexander, her favourite GF who had the highest compatibility with her, but found that she could not.

"Squall! I can't summon Alexander!" cried Rinoa, shooting her blaster edge at the Sphinx. Cloud didn't know what the heck an Alexander was, but he concluded it was a GF, though he simply ignored her and tried to attack with Squall's gunblade. It was too light for him; he missed his Ultima Weapon and wondered how Squall would be able to handle the bulk. He dodged a swipe from the Sphinx and slashed downwards, trying to pull the trigger at the same time. It felt so weird, that he staggered back. Irvine noticed it, but concentrated on shooting the Sphinxaur, as that was all the could do : attack.

"That's probably what they mean by our powers have been sealed. I don't think we can use magic either," said Irvine, aiming a shot at the Sphinxaur's head.

"Try not to get hurt," yelled Cloud, "Since we can't use magic or anything."

The sphinxaur roared, and casted a Firaga at Rinoa. Cloud turned back in time to see the fire burst into flames at Rinoa, but she managed to dodge it in time, the fire only slightly damaging her. Suddenly this dog came out of nowhere and pounced at the monster. The impact was hard enough to cause some damage to it, and then the dog ran towards Rinoa. (A/N: It's Angelo Rush in case you don't know :) )

"Good boy Angelo," said Rinoa, and the dog ran off. Cloud didn't have time to wonder as Irvine shouted, "Squall, watch out for that Blizzaga coming your way!" and he dodged the spell that looked like Ice3. Again another question formed, _what in Gaia's name is Blizzaga? _He rolled over on the ground and jumped up, deciding to use his speed as an advantage. He ran towards the Sphinx, but discovered that he was slower than usual. Then he remembered he was in Squall's body, a body unexposed to Mako energy. Sensing his attack, the Sphinxaur turned around to face him and he slashed once, twice and then jumped back. He felt a bullet whiz past his right, and then a howl from the monster as he ran as fast as his body could to tha back. Rinoa's weapon, which looked like it had wings on it, hit the Sphinxaur by its neck, and flew back to its owner. After a few more shots from Irvine and Rinoa, and Cloud who was beginning to get used to the weapon, the Sphinxaur keeled over and sort of exploded into a million pieces, dissolving into the air with a final cry. Cloud sheathed his weapon, turning around to face the other two.

"Are you ok?" Cloud asked Rinoa, who was examining her hurt leg.

"I'll be fine with a Potion ... " replied Rinoa, taking one out of her pouch and drinking it. She stopped, after realizing that the potion wasn't stopping the bleeding like it used to.

"It's not working."

"We can't use items too? That's not exactly a 'power'," said Irvine, pulling out a bandage from the small kit he always carried around and wrapping it neatly around Rinoa's leg.

"So what are the powers we can use now?"

"We can attack ... after killing this guy we've probably unlocked another power. The question is, how do we know?"

"We find another monster to find out," said Cloud simply, walking up the stairs.

* * *

Meanwhile, the other party headed left through the door, and came to this long corridor with statues at either side of it. They walked on ahead, Zell and Selphie complaining about the lack of monsters. Only Quistis seemed to be thinking about Squall. _Something feels wrong_, she thought as she tried to picture all of his movements. _Squall doesn't walk like that. He walks with style ... and he stands with the weight shifted on his right leg. However, now he has this weird posture ... am I the only one who has noticed? _Soon they came to the end of the corridor, and there was another door on their right. They walked through it and came to what used to be hall, with two stairways leading up to the second floor. Both of them were unsafe to walk on, and the top part of the stairs had already collapsed.

"Hey, there's a hatch here," said Zell, bending down to examine it. The wooden flaps were moldy and damp, but he noticed that the lock on the hatch was already broken 1. Using his strength but careful not to break the doors, he pulled them open, and a stairs leading down came into view. They walked down the stairs into what looked like a wine cellar, but neither of them were interested in the alcohol (it probably contained poison, for all they knew).

Another one of Ultimecia's servants hovered at the ground level of the wine cellar. Zell, Selphie and Quistis stopped at the end of the stairs to look at it. It looked rather robotic, its face shaped to look something similar of a dragon, and it had three sharp blades positioned in a triangle, from the back and sides of the monster pointing menacingly towards Zell's party, and it sizzled and sparkled like it had some electric current going through it.

"Yo, let's get started!" said Zell, readying himself into a martial arts stance, as Quistis cracked her whip and Selphie wielded her nunchakus. The monster laughed hollowly in amusment, and its eyes flashed.

"FACE MY WRATH FOR SEEKING THY SEALED POWER..."

Zell prepared to unleash hell upon the arrogant monster, but found that he could not summon Ifrit. Either that or the Guardian Force refused to appear, which was absurd because there was no reason why they would not show up. Selphie had tried to summon Doomtrain to lower the monster's defense, but gasped when the attempted summoning had drained her energy, making her feel weaker than normal.

"Don't bother summoning," said Quistis, attacking the Tri-Point with her whip. "Our powers have been sealed, it's likely we can't use magic either."

"WHATEVER I DON'T USE, I DON'T LIKE," said the monster, and immediately regretted saying it, thus revealing his weakness. The humans blinked at it, then got back into their fighting positions. Selphie thwacked it as hard as she could, followed by a series of punches from Zell. The monster roared once and countered the attacks with his favourite Mega Spark. Unfortunately for them they did not have enough place to dodge the attack, as the wine cellar was too cramped. Zell's party suffered the Lightning elemental attack by the monster, but Quistis was the first to get up, ignoring the jolts in her system threatening to put her out. Her resistance to the element was higher than Zell and Selphie's, so she recovered rather quickly and took charge.

"Use either Fire or Ice magic!" yelled Quistis. Then she blinked. "Wait, we can't use magic, don't bother! Zell, you take that side, Selphie you take the other, slip through it as fast as you can!"

"Roger!"

"Right on!"

Selphie skittered underneath the monster as it was hovering and appeared at its back. The monster swirled around to face her but Quistis cracked her whip at it, forcing it to turn around again. Automatically, his counter-attack Mega Spark was unleashed again, but this time with enough room, Quistis was ready for it and dodged the attack with ease. Zell had taken the advantage of slipping through and ending up on the opposite side of Selphie. The monster was trapped, and each time he showed signs of attacking, the three humans diverted it with their own attacks. It swivelled about, turning to face each of the humans in turn, but a hit by any one of them standing behind it made it distracted, and so he swivelled about to face that culprit, only to be hit in the back again.

Suddenly Zell felt a weird, tingling sensation, and he realized that Squall had probably managed to defeat the monster, and therefore one of their powers must have been unlocked. He tried summoning Ifrit again, but the Gf still did not show up. Zell dodged an attack coming his way in time, and threw a Blizzaga spell at the monster. To Selphie and Quistis's surpise, the Blizzaga spell took form, freezing Tri-Point in a cage of ice, before bursting into a million pieces, the shards cutting it everywhere. It roared in frustration, and attacked furiously, rushing headlong into Zell. Zell ducked, and it pinned the wall above him, hairs away from his head, but Zell punched it from below, causing it to fall back.

"Zell, Firaga incoming! Get out of there!" called Selphie, and Zell rolled underneath the monster and away, jumping up into position. The Firaga spell hit its target, the ball of fire growing bigger from the monster's middle, and burst into an inferno, eliciting a roar from the monster. Selphie tossed a Flare at it, the non-elemental spell doing more damage as it started thrashing wildly, the three points of its blade sparkling furiously, until it burst into pieces and dissolved into the air.

"Man, why can't they die like other monsters? Just roll over and die..." said Zell, brushing his sleeves and checking his physical health.

"Squall must have unlocked the Magic spell," said Selphie, putting away her weapon.

"Then what spell did we unlock?"

"I don't know. Let's just get out of here," said Quistis, walking up the stairs with Zell and Selphie trailing along behind. Suddenly they heard a loud sound outside and the clashing of metal against wood. Quickly they rushed out, opening the wooden flaps and climbing out of the hatch. Squall was standing and looking around, Rinoa was slowly getting up from the floor, whereas Irvine was busy adjusting his hat.

"What happened, guys?" asked Selphie.

"Squall had a bright idea to walk on the chandelier, and it fell down," said Irvine, shaking his head.

"What kind of person would walk on a chandelier? Squall, what were you thinking?" said Quistis.

"I wasn't thinking," said Cloud simply. He rolled his eyes at them. "Didn't you see across the chandelier there was a room?" Irvine and Rinoa shook their heads. Cloud sighed.

"Heeey, what's this?" said Selphie, who had wandered over to the right of the stairs. It looked like a lever, and before Cloud could shout she pressed it down. A click sounded somewhere, and they turned to where the noise had come from.

"Sounds like it came from the ceiling," said Zell. Another 'click' sounded, and they all turned to look at Selphie who had stepped away.

"Someone has to hold it down, it won't stay that way," said Selphie, walking over to it again. Pressing it down, they heard the sound again.

"Maybe that prevents the chandelier from falling down," said Cloud to himself. He looked over at Rinoa and Irvine.

"Let's go. Zell, Quistis, you stay here with Selphie until we're done. Hopefully we won't take too long."

* * *

(1) In the game, only if you fall down from the chandelier the lock on the hatch will break. But they had to go somewhere if they were gonna divide into two parties, so I decided to make them fight the Tri-Point, and when they come back up Cloud and his party would fall from the chandelier. Meaning to say that the Tri Point and the Sphinxaur were defeated at about the same time, only Sphinxaur slightly earlier, which enabled Zell's party to use magic at the end of the battle.

Do you think I should include the WEAPONS in this story? For Squall in the FF7 world, there's only five days left to defeat Sephiroth, do you think they should take down the remaining three WEAPONS or just one of them? For Cloud, there's only OMEGA weapon, that shouldn't be a problem because there's no time limit ... Also, is Selphie's weapon "nunchakus" or "nunchucks"? Please tell me if you review, thanks alot!


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